Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a press conference with international correspondents at Miraflores Palace. November 30, 2022. Photo: Presidential Press.
The sanctions and unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States government against Venezuela must be completely lifted on the oil industry, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said on Wednesday, November 30.
During a press conference at the Miraflores Palace, with national and international media, the head of state stated that Venezuela “has the right to freedom of trade and production.”
“All colonialist sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry must be lifted,” he said, “because they violate the agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
He added that “all the licenses (those that are known and those that are not known) that the US government has given to Chevron go in the right direction, although they are not enough for what Venezuela demands, which is the complete lifting of them.”
President Maduro also requested that the Citgo Petroleum Corporation (CITGO) return to Venezuela, along with its dividends, having not been paid since 2019. “About CITGO,” he said, “it is owned by Venezuela, and it is vital that it return to Venezuela, and that the dividends from 2019 to 2022 be released to their Venezuelan accounts, to respond to social issues. We must demand the return of CITGO.”
Signing Contracts With Chevron Will Promote Oil Industry Development in Venezuela
The Venezuelan president added that “CITGO has dividends worth $24 billion, that should all be for Venezuelans. The Monitoring Commission will determine how to release those resources.” Previously, the Venezuelan leader clarified that all alleged creditors are part of a fraud and that CITGO should be returned intact to Venezuela.
Venezuela: Free Country
The president defended the right that Venezuela has, as a free and sovereign country, to exercise economic, commercial and productive freedom.
“Venezuela has the right to freedom of trade and production,” President Maduro stated, “and what they are trying to impose on us is a colonial system. You cannot sell or buy oil, that is called colonialism in the 21st century.”
He reiterated that the sanctions must be completely lifted “because they violate economic freedom.”
Very positive contracts
At the press conference, President Nicolás Maduro said that the minister for petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, explained that “in the next few days the operating contracts will be signed, within the framework of Venezuelan law and the Constitution, and it will be very positive.”
“The contracts will be very positive for both parties; Venezuela, Chevron, and the world all win,” President Maduro said.
Washington Greenlights Chevron to Resume Oil Production in Venezuela, Uses Mexico Talks as Excuse
The minister for petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, will be in charge of signing the operating contracts with the Chevron Corporation, within the framework of the Constitution and Venezuelan laws, which will result in a positive jump in the industry’s production and joint ventures.
Venezuela back at the international energy circuit
For Nicolás Maduro, removing Venezuela from the world’s energy circuit was a bad idea from Donald Trump.
“Venezuela is part of the world energy equation,” President Maduro saidd. “It has the most significant reserve sin the world, it must be in the world’s energy equation; they cannot take us out, we are a great oil power.”
He also noted that “we will be a gas power, and, sooner rather than later, we will be a petrochemical power. It is the reality of Venezuela.”
Faced with this situation, the head of state said that those who ideologize everything, like Donald Trump, cause harm, which “is unacceptable from the point of view of diplomatic and international relations.”
With conflict in Ukraine, Venezuela in the debate
President Maduro said that Venezuela entered the world debate after the conflict in Ukraine, because they have the most significant oil reserves.
The conflict began on February 24. By March 5, noted the president, “we had delegations from the United States and Europe. We do not place political conditions to sell oil, we sell it to whoever needs it… “We sell oil, gas, petrochemicals, to whoever needs it at a fair price based on contracts that respect Venezuelan legislation. It has always been so and always will be so.”
Given these premises, the head of state added that “when god created the world, he gave Venezuela gold, diamonds, land, and the most beautiful thing we have, the people and their nobility.”
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU/SL
